And in total on the planet, according to World Bank statistics in this category, China leads the world by a wide margin, followed by the United States and Australia.
China has an area of 2 million square miles under cultivation, making it the country with the largest area of agricultural land in the world. About one-fifth of the country’s population is engaged in agriculture, and today China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of agricultural products.
China even has more farmland than large countries such as Russia (833,000 square miles – 5th largest in the world) and Canada (220,000 square miles), thanks to those countries’ vast snow-covered and tundra areas.
However, climate change is likely to change the landscape of global agriculture as new northern regions become more suitable for farming.
Other leading agricultural players
The United States (1.6 million), Australia (1.4 million), and Brazil (914,000) are among the top five countries in the world. Each of these countries specializes in growing different crops.
For example, the United States is the world’s largest producer of corn, and Brazil is the leading producer of soybeans and sugarcane.
Meanwhile, Australia has overcome a predominantly arid climate to become a major producer of wheat and cereals, competing with major producers such as India (689,000) and Ukraine (160,000 square miles).
Africa’s growing desert problem
African countries account for nearly half of the world’s 50 largest countries in terms of agricultural land area. The leaders are large countries such as Sudan (435,000), South Africa (372,000) and Nigeria (268,000).
As in Eurasia and the Americas, African agriculture is increasingly facing the challenges posed by climate change.
In particular, the growing problem of desertification is reducing agricultural land in countries, especially in the Sahel region, as rising temperatures reduce soil fertility for growing crops. Excessive farming and grazing exacerbate regional soil erosion and deepen desertification.
